


Vengeance

by dweeborg



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Allergies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Deliberately Triggering an Allergy, Gluten Allergy, Manipulation, a little physical violence, but nothing too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dweeborg/pseuds/dweeborg
Summary: It had been two horrible weeks. Every day, no matter how careful they were, Marinette somehow ingested gluten and spent the rest of the day in agony, with painful abdominal cramps, headaches, and fatigue. According to Marinette, Lila and Alya had confronted her about refusing to eat some snacks that Lila brought. When Marinette tried to explain her gluten allergy, Lila accused her of making it up and started crying. After that, everything had gone downhill. Even after seeing Marinette in pain for days, the rest of the class refused to believe that her allergy was real.





	1. Part One: Vengeance Born

**Author's Note:**

> Written, with permission, for lenoreofraven's allergy au (on Tumblr). Also posted to my Tumblr, dweeborg.

Adrien found Marinette crying right outside the bathroom. She had one hand over her stomach and was curled up as tight as she could.  
“Hey,” he hesitated to touch her. “Is it bad again?”

Looking up slowly, Marinette tried to wipe away her tears. Adrien quietly offered a tissue.

“Yeah,” a sob broke through the word. “And I don’t know why. I was so careful! Everything was sealed, I washed my hands, I even got a disposable fork. I don’t know what I did wrong.”

Adrien sat down beside her quietly. Although he tried not to show it, he was angry. He knew who must be behind this.

He swallowed his anger though, instead focusing on his friend.

“Do you want to go home?”

“I’ve missed too many classes already.”

They fell into silence again. After a moment, Adrien put a hand on Marinette’s back and started rubbing it in small circles.

It had been two horrible weeks. Every day, no matter how careful they were, Marinette somehow ingested gluten and spent the rest of the day in agony, with painful abdominal cramps, headaches, and fatigue. According to Marinette, Lila and Alya had confronted her about refusing to eat some snacks that Lila brought. When Marinette tried to explain her gluten allergy, Lila accused her of making it up and started crying. After that, everything had gone downhill. Even after seeing Marinette in pain for days, the rest of the class refused to believe that her allergy was real.

Adrien was sick of it. Seeing his friend in so much physical and emotional pain made him sick to his stomach. But as always, he shoved his anger and frustration deep down in his heart.

“Did you say disposable fork?” He asked suddenly.

“Yeah,” Marinette croaked out, “For my chicken.”

“Where’d you get the fork from?”

“Cafeteria kitchen. New container.” Marinette was too tired from the pain to talk in full sentences.

Adrien stifled a gasp. Earlier that day, he had seen Lila and Alya charming one of the kitchen staff. And messing with one of the fork containers.

“They wouldn’t,” he breathed.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” He stood up slowly. “You should really go home Marinette. There’s only one more hour left and you look like you’re in a lot of pain.”

Marinette looked up at him, about to protest, but then nodded. Adrien gritted his teeth. If she had agreed that quickly it must be really bad.

...

After sending Marinette home in his limo, Adrien went on the hunt. His target: Alya, Marinette’s supposed ‘best friend’. He found her in the courtyard, about to head back to class.

“Alya.” His voice was deadly quiet.

She barely spared him a glance. “What’s up, Adrien?”

“Please tell me you haven’t been poisoning Marinette.”

Alya made eye contact nervously, but said nothing.

“Alya.” Adrien desperately tried to remain calm, but his eyesight was blurring with...anger? Tears?

Alya looked vaguely scared for a second, then steeled her gaze. “No. We haven’t. Because Marinette is just trying to get attention.”

Adrien opened his mouth, but was interrupted.

“Don’t deny it!” Alya’s voice was growing stronger, “You and I both know that Marinette is jealous of Lila. She can’t handle the fact that people like Lila better than her. So now she’s made up some allergy and we’re just proving that she’s making it all up!” Her stance held a virtuous anger that made it hard for Adrien to keep pretending that he was keeping it together.

“She’s not making it up,” Adrien was getting louder too. “What you’re doing is really hurting her.”

No remorse showed in Alya’s eyes. “I’ve given her so many chances to apologize to Lila,” she said angrily. “Marinette deserves to have her lies about an allergy exposed. And you’ll see!”

As tears started rolling down Adrien’s cheeks, he couldn’t stop picturing Marinette, curled up by the bathroom, in obvious pain, without her ‘bestie’ by her side. It was this image that finally made him snap.

“LILA IS THE LIAR!” he screamed in Alya’s face, “AND YOU’RE AN IDIOT FOR NOT SEEING THAT!”

Alya had almost fallen down from the shock of seeing Adrien Agreste lose his precious cool. She backed up against the railing, her mouth open.

Adrien wasn’t done. He wasn’t shouting anymore, but he did not lose any intensity or anger. “You have been poisoning Marinette with gluten for two weeks, ignoring her pain and suffering, taking orders from a compulsive liar, and you still dare to pretend that you’re a good person?! Your evilness and stupidity amazes me!”

Turning on his heel, Adrien ran away. He brushed at the hot tears on his face and ignored whatever Alya was trying to say behind him. He didn’t stop running until he was at least a block away from the school.

Adrien bit his fist, choking down tears. He didn’t notice the dark purple butterfly until it was too late.

“Hello…” the voice in his head paused as if in surprise before continuing, “Hello, Vengeance. I am Hawk Moth. I can give you the power to protect your loved ones and stop those who dare to hurt them. In return, I nee-”

“I know, Hawk Moth.” Adrien growled, “And I’m ready.”


	2. Part Two: Vengeance Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Broken Bones, Battle Violence (Neither explicit)

Marinette woke up with a jerk. After taking a charcoal pill for the gas from her accidental gluten ingestion, she had tried to take a much-needed nap. But the sounds outside her window were too loud to let her sleep. That, and the the tiny voice next to her ear.

“Marinette!” Tikki shouted, “Wake up!”

Blinking groggily, Marinette tried to focus. “What is it, Tikki?”

“There’s an akuma!”

In an instant, Marinette was wide awake. “Spots on!” she shouted, and was on her rooftop as Ladybug within ten seconds.

Confused civilians ran rampant throughout the street. Every so often a beam of red light would shoot out from a rooftop across the street. When it hit a civilian near Marinette, she paid close attention. What was this akuma’s power?

But nothing happened. After a short scream, the man who had been hit looked around in confusion. He patted himself down, finding nothing wrong.

“Innocent,” proclaimed a booming voice from the rooftop that the beam of light had come out of. “You have done no wrong to Marinette. Go in peace.” 

Marinette started at the sound of her name, but continued her surveillance. Once it was apparent that nothing was about to happen to him, the civilian ran away.

Another beam of red light shot down from the rooftop. This time, when it hit a figure in the distance, they immediately fell down, clutching their left arm and screaming in pain. Marinette squinted, trying to recognize the civilian hit. She moved closer and the form of her classmate Ivan Bruel became clear. Although Ivan looked to be in great pain, Marinette hesitated to go to him before she was able to find out the akuma’s powers.

“Guilty!” the voice called out. “You are responsible for breaking Marinette’s arm 2 years ago.”

“It was an accident,” Ivan yelled through his tears. “I didn’t mean to hurt her!”

“Irrelevant!” the voice said angrily, “You need to be punished. You need to feel the suffering you inflicted on Marinette. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!”

With a wince, Marinette remembered that day, two years ago. It had definitely been an accident. Ivan had bumped her at the top of the stairs at the school entrance and she had fallen down them, breaking her left arm in the process. He had felt terrible and had brought her chocolate every day for weeks while she healed. He did not deserve to have his arm broken in return.

A red and black figure jumped from the opposite rooftop, moving too fast for Marinette to consider following. Her stomach still hurt and there was Ivan to attend to.

She let herself down onto the street and approached Ivan. He was crying in pain and Marinette’s heart went out to him. The Miraculous Cure would eventually fix his wounds, but in the meantime there was nothing Ladybug could do. She went to him anyway.

Brushing the hair out of his eyes softly, Marinette said, “It’s going to be okay.” He looked up at her. She continued, “I’m going to go defeat the akuma now. You’ll be okay soon.” She gave him her best smile.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

Marinette frowned. She wanted to comfort Ivan more, but there was an akuma to deal with. Ignoring her protesting headache, Marinette swung down the street in pursuit of the red and black figure.

…

As soon as the TV announced another akuma attack, Alya had grabbed her phone and rushed outside, hoping to catch the upcoming fight as it happened. She ran in the direction of the last reported akuma activity, which was only three blocks away. As she ran, she opened her phone and began recording herself, uploading it live.

“Hello, Paris!” she grinned at her phone. “Alya here, coming to you live on the way to a current akuma attack. No sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir yet, but stay tuned! This reporter will be on the scene in mo--Aaagh!”

Alya tripped, phone flying out of her hands, as a boy in black and red ran into her. She fell onto the ground, scraping her palms and knees on the asphalt. She looked up, seeing a blurry figure. Her glasses must have fallen off when she was hit.

“Alya Cėsaire,” the black and red smudge said.

Her heart was beating wildly. Alya scrambled for her glasses, but found her phone instead. “Yes?” she answered bravely, holding up the phone, which was still streaming, “You’re on air. Do you mind getting interviewed for the Ladyblog?”

The akuma laughed coldly, “Fine. I’ll take this time to tell all of your followers about your heinous actions.”

“Excuse me?” Alya asked, barely keeping her voice from trembling. Her left hand finally found her glasses on the ground beside her. The glasses shook as she put them on her face.

Before her stood Hawkmoth’s newest akumatized victim. His skin was ashen gray, but everything else was either red or black. Sharp spikes stood on his shoulders and a stylized red eye was printed the front of his black shirt.

Even though his hair was coal black and almost everything about his appearance was different, Alya immediately recognized him.  
“Adrien,” she breathed.

The akuma ignored her, instead continuing his rant to the camera. “This girl has been poisoning her best friend for two weeks. She has deliberately tainted food and utensils with gluten, which her friend is allergic to. Because of your leader’s deliberate actions, Marinette has been in pain for weeks.” His red eyes flickered to hers and she winced at his disdainful glance.

“That’s….” her hands and feet stung from the road rash, but she continued, “that’s not true.”

“It is!” Vengeance’s voice seemed to be magnified in his rage. He raised an arm, which had a blaster attached to the wrist. “And now you will be punished for your evil actions.”

Alya closed her eyes tight.

TWANG!

Her eyes flew open to see Vengeance knocked to the ground and Ladybug standing beside her, a grim look on her face.  
“Get up,” Ladybug said to her. “Go, now!”

Alya scrambled to her feet, checked to make sure her phone was still streaming, then ran away from the action. Not too far away though. She turned back to watch.

Vengeance did not stay on the ground for long. Soon, he and Ladybug were locked in battle. Skillfully, Ladybug dodged or blocked every beam of light that Vengeance shot at her. Unfortunately Vengeance was light on his feet too and was able to stay away from Ladybug’s yoyo and grasping hands.

Alya gleefully recorded all of it, hiding behind a park bench.

“Ladybug saved me once again!” she whispered to her phone. “No sign of Chat yet, and Ladybug hasn’t used her Lucky Charm. For those just joining us--”

“No!” Ladybug’s shout made Alya look up and see a beam of light coming straight at her. There was no time to move. The beam of light hit Alya square in the face.


	3. Part 3: Vengeance Falling

Two weeks of pain condensed into one second hit Alya like a truck. Her head felt like it was tearing itself apart and her abdomen was even worse. She couldn’t even see through the pain ripping through her body.

She was so sad. And alone. She didn’t even know why. Where was…? Who was she looking for? Alya felt heartbreak and abandonment. The pain in her body was nothing compared to the pain in her mind. Alya just wanted it to stop.

Loud laughter reached her ears like she was stuck underwater. She barely registered it. After what must have been at most a minute, but what felt like an hour, the pain became just tolerable enough for Alya to make out what was happening around her.

Vengeance was gone. But Ladybug sat by her side, rubbing Alya’s back in small circles.

Alya realized there were tears in her own eyes. She kept clutching her stomach, but mustered enough effort to ask Ladybug, “Was he telling the truth?”

Ladybug looked away, then back at her, “Yes.”

Alya let the tears fall as she sobbed uncontrollably.

…

Marinette’s stomach ached. The worst of the pain was behind her now and for that she was thankful. Defeating an akuma in the middle of an allergy attack did not sound fun. But her heart felt like someone was squeezing it tightly. Alya had been triggering her allergies? Marinette realized that she was crying. She wiped the tears off her mask and swung away from Alya in the direction that Vengeance had gone.

“Focus, Marinette,” she told herself, but her voice was choked with grief. She landed on a rooftop and squatted on the ground, covering her mouth as she sobbed. It felt good to let it out.

How could Alya have betrayed her like that? It had been painful enough that Marinette was never believed and Lila was. Seeing Alya distrust her had slowly eaten away at her. But this blow was truly the worst. All the stories about the power of friendship conveniently forgot to mention the dizzying pain of betrayal.

The tears slowed down and Marinette began to catch her breath. Regaining control of her emotions felt like second nature at this point. Ladybug had a job to do.

…

“You deserve this, Lila!” Vengeance sneered at the girl cowering in front of him as he raised his blaster. “You have no remorse for the things you do to others. You lie and manipulate and take joy in the pain of others.”

The fear dancing in Lila’s eyes wasn’t strong enough to keep her from replying. She laughed dryly, “Hypocrite.”

Vengeance paused, anger rising in his throat.

Lila continued, “Marinette threatened to expose me. How could I not retaliate? All I want is to seek vengeance on those who’ve hurt me. Sure, it makes me happy to see her suffer. But isn’t that your whole schtick, Vengeance? You crave seeing me in pain. For you, that’s justice. In my eyes, everything I’ve done to Marinette she has deserved.”

His breath was ragged. His upper lip curled and he renewed his grip on the blaster. Lila stared him down, ready for her fate.

“No.”

Vengeance swung around to find the source of the voice. Ladybug stood ten feet away, yoyo at the ready. She looked determined, but calm. With a flick of her wrist, the end of her yoyo wrapped around Vengeance’s outstretched hand. She jerked it toward her. As soon as the blaster wasn’t pointed toward her, Lila scrambled to her feet and ran away.

Vengeance screamed in frustration and tried to detangle his arm. “Let me go, Ladybug!” A purple mask flickered over his face for a moment as Hawkmoth gave him instructions. He switched targets immediately, forgoing his pursuit of the retreating Lila.

“Once I deal with you, Lila will come to justice,” he finally untangled his blaster, firing it at Ladybug, who dodged nimbly.

“This isn’t justice, this is revenge!” Ladybug shouted as she fought, attacking and dodging in turn.

“She will feel exactly the pain she inflicted! It’s a fair punishment.” Vengeance’s fighting ability was impeded by his anger.

Ladybug saw her opportunity. She leapt as soon as he fired his blaster, using her spinning yoyo to deflect the beam of light. Strangely enough, the yoyo caused it to change directions, and the light sunk into the wall. Ladybug noted it as the battle continued. A plan formed in her head and she began positioning herself deftly.

“Adrien, stop this,” her voice was quiet. “You can be better than this.”

Vengeance’s face twisted with anger and he raised his blaster instead of answering. He fired directly at Ladybug. She spun her yoyo, noting the exact angle of the beam of light. When it hit the yoyo, it was deflected back at Vengeance.

He was struck with his own blast.

....

Falling to his knees, Vengeance began to cry. “What’s happening?” he asked, his voice trembling. “I feel...heartbroken.”

Marinette went to him cautiously. Her heart cried out at the sight of Vengeance’s tears. Adrien was in there, and although he wouldn’t remember this, she never wanted to see him in pain. She kneeled in front of him and cradled his face in her hands.

“You’re feeling what you caused Marinette to feel,” she said softly.

He looked her in the eyes and grabbed his blaster tightly. She flinched, but didn’t move. Without breaking eye contact, Vengeance pulled the blaster off his wrist and threw it to the ground. The fall broke it, releasing a purple butterfly.

Marinette kissed his forehead as Vengeance fell away and only Adrien remained. “She forgives you,” Ladybug whispered in his ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be one more chapter, coming to you by the end of the week.


	4. Part 4: Justice

The video opened on Alya sitting in front of a map of akuma attacks. Her eyes were red and it took her a second to look directly at the camera. With a wavering but resolute voice, she began.

“Hello, Ladybug fans. I’m here to give you a little closure regarding the viral footage of Vengeance that I uploaded live about a week ago.” Alya took a deep breath, but continued, “Everything Vengeance said is true. I deliberately triggered my friend’s gluten allergy. The only thing I can say in my defense is that I truly believed that she was making it up. I took my journalistic nature too far and became determined to out her as a liar. My recklessness and mistrust of the person who should have been most trusted caused her great pain.” 

The words were coming out fast at this point, as if to get it over with quicker, “I know some of you have been defending me and I’m grateful for your loyalty. But with this video I’m setting the record straight. For those of you who were rightly angered by what Vengeance said I had done and called for police action, let me assure you as well. After recovering from the akuma attack, I went to the proper authorities myself. All of those responsible for triggering my friend’s allergy, including myself, will be properly punished. Below I’ve linked the police chief’s official statement confirming that fact.”

Taking a sip of water, Alya renewed her strength, “Finally, I need to announce the temporary closure of the Ladyblog. I need to take a few months to look through it and weed out any incorrect information. Also during this time I will be occupied with the consequences of my actions. At this time, I do not know when I’ll begin uploading Ladybug news.” She looked away from the camera for a second. “I need to do some thinking about...everything.”

Alya looked back at the camera, “I feel nothing but remorse for my actions. And I’m taking it upon myself to pay for those actions. In any way that I need to.”

The video ended.

…

Adrien was about to replay the video for a third time, but paused when the phone rang. Caller ID informed him that Alya was calling. He hesitated, but answered.

“Hello, Alya.”

“Hey, Adrien,” her voice was breathy and she didn’t pause long enough to let him answer. “I have some news for you regarding Lila. I think Marinette should hear it and I want you to give it to her.” She made a sound that could have been a cough. “Could we meet up? It can be somewhere private so no one will see you with me.”

“Can’t you tell me on the phone?”

“Please.”

Adrien sighed and looked at his clock. “I’ll stop by your house on the way to my next shoot.”

“Thank you.”

He hung up.

…

Alya’s room was a mess. As she showed Adrien in, Alya had to clear a place on her couch, throwing dirty clothes and papers in a pile on the floor.

“Sorry,” she said. “I haven’t had a lot of time to clean up since...well, you know.”

She went to her computer as Adrien sat down gingerly.

“I’ll get right to it, then,” Alya pulled up what looked like an official police report on her computer. She tapped her desk for a second, considering where to start. After a moment, she turned to Adrien.

“I know that Lila is a liar now. I went to her after I found out that Marinette wasn’t lying about her allergy. At first, she acted as shocked and sorrowful as me about what we had done. But when we went to the police to give our statements, she denied everything.”

Adrien wasn’t surprised.

Alya continued, “She tried to pin it all on me, making up some sob story about me threatening her and trying to force her to confess. I was devastated.” Alya looked at her hands, “I can’t believe that I trusted her over Marinette.”

There was a moment of silence while Alya composed herself.

“Fortunately, when Lila and I were deciding to expose Marinette, I started documenting everything. At the time, I was planning to use the documentation to prove that Marinette was lying about her allergy. I didn’t tell Lila, but I recorded most of our conversations about what we were doing,” She turned back to her computer and opened a different file. “This file contains two weeks worth of notes, voice recordings, and videos. I’ve sent it all to the police.”

“Since Lila tried to deny her involvement instead of confessing at the start, and in reviewing the recordings, the police decided to sentence her to 100 hours of community service as well as the same monetary compensation to the Dupain-Cheng family that I have to pay.”

Adrien sat back in his seat, his head reeling from the information. For months, he had considered Lila untouchable. To hear that she was finally being given punishment for her actions amazed him.

“And, this isn’t really surprising,” Alya continued, “but in their investigation, the police also found out that Lila had been skipping school and no one knew about it. They didn’t really care, but they informed both her mother and the principal. Her reputation is ruined.”

They sat in silence for a minute. 

Adrien finally stood, “I need to get to my shoot. Thank you for telling me. I’ll tell Marinette that she doesn’t have to worry about Lila anymore.”

He was about to leave when Alya spoke again, “How is she?”

Adrien turned back. Alya was looking at him anxiously.

He smiled, “She’s doing really well.”

Alya breathed a sigh of relief, “Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading.


End file.
